The Arizona sentinel., 1887-08-27
ABOUT "CoRNERS."
The Principle on Which They Are Engin-
 eered by Greedy SpecuIators.

The Principle on Which They Are Engfn-
 eered by Greedy SpecuIators.
 Within a short time two famous
 ''corners" have collapsed-if that is a
 proper verb to use to describe the de-
 feat of the men who managed the
 'corners. The principle on which a
 corner is engineered is this: the specu-
 lators who make it buy or get control
 of all there is in the market of any
 particular commodity, and thus they
 force those who must have a supply of
 that commodity to pay whatever price | they choose to fix. Sometimes the
 stock of a railroad company is con-
 cerned, and those who have sold that stock ''short," that is sold stock
 which they do not yet own, must buy
 of those who have all the stock there
 is to sell, and pay fancy prices for it.
 In two recent cases, coffee and wheat
 were the articles cornered. By the
 buying of one cornering clique, the
 market price of coffee was run up to fabulous rate; the spectators who dealt in wheat accepted all offers to
 deliver wheat at Chicago during the
 month of June at steadily advancing
 price. Each corner failed disastrously,
 and for the same reason. The specu- lators miscalculated, or were badly in- formed as to the supply of the article
 was better than their information led them to suppose, and 8 much larger quantity of wheat was carried into Chicago than it had been sup posed possible to collect. Consequent- ly. the funds of the spectators gave out. Then the "bears," or those who thought the prices should decline, in- cluding all who were not in the corner, sold boldly. Prices came down by the run. First the paper profits, and then the capital of the cornering specu- lators, were wiped out and the sham "bulr' movement was at an end. In the case of the wheat speculation the disaster involved one or two banks, and inflicted mortal blow upon the reputation for financial integrity of some men who have heretofore stood high in the esteem of brother mer- chants. In both cases bankruptcy and ruin were the fate of the leaders of the cliques, who had hoped to make them- selves enormously rich by a single stroke of fortune.
 In all the discussions upon these events not a voice of sympathy has been raised. so far as we have ob- served, in behalf of the spectators who attempted to advance prices artifically. They served absolutely no useful purpose whatever. They were simply betting upon the supply of coffee and wheat. If they had been right in their calculations, and had made as much money as they hoped to make, they would merely have taken it out of the pocket of consumers of wheat and coffee. It is not, perhaps, very wrong for merchat who foresees that there is to be short supply of the goods in which he deals, to in- crease his stock and hold it for the rise. That is legitimate specu- lation. But attempts to control the market by making the supply artificial ly short are bad acts, and none but | those who lose are sorry when they fail.
 To say nothing of its effect upon the people who engage in it-for it is gambling, and nothing else-a corner is highly injurious to ordinary trade. Take it in the case of wheat. The pros perity of the country depends largely upon the amount of breadstuffs that can be marketed abroad. A corner raises the price of wheat so high that it can not be sold for shipment, and the export trade is stopped. This is but a single example of the evil working of a corner, for it is unmitigatedly bad in every way. Fortunately the attempt to make a corner seldom succeeds. A few years ago an American cornered cotton in the English market. and cleared an enormous sum thereby; but he was tempted to try again, and lost it alI
 We know of one case of young man who had inherited large fortune. and threw it away in an unsuccessful cor ner in railroad stock. Of course, only hose who have wealth. and can also borrow large amounts of money, can undertake corner. The melting away of fortunes in foolish speculations is one of the ways in which capital is scattered and the accumulation of too great wealth is prevented. - Youths ConlpGnion.